Contents

Biography

The Child Catcher is depicted as a black-clad, large-nosed man who is employed to hunt down children and take them away. He carries a large net of the sort used to catch butterflies, and a rather menacing-looking hook such as those used by old-fashioned abortionists. The Child Catcher occasionally snares his prey by luring them out with lollipops. When they fall for his trick, he puts them in cages to be carted off to a large prison under orders from the evil rulers of Vulgaria (Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst), who dislike children.

In the end the Child-Catcher is captured along with his employers after the heroes of the story manage to topple Vulgaria's evil regime and free all the children.

Gallery

Images

Trivia

Despite the Child Cather's scary reputation, Heather Ripley (who played Jemima) said that Robert Helpmann "...Was the least scariest person I have ever met in my life. There was absolutely nothing about him that was scary. He was a sweet and charming gentleman. But the way he moved, could be very scary." Both her and Adrian Hall (who played her on-screen brother, Jeremy) attended his funeral.

Robert Helpman was nearly killed when the carriage that he was driving for the film spun out of control and turned over. Thanks to his dancer's reflexes, he was able to leap off of the moving wheel and land safely on his feet.

The Child Catcher and his masters did not appear in the book on which the film is based, which was written by James Bond novelist Ian Fleming. They were instead largely the creation of Roald Dahl of Willy Wonka fame, who co-wrote the film with Ken Hughes.